Velocity Mindset
I recently received an honor that caused me to reflect on an entire career. I was inducted into the 2026 Legends of the Speaking Profession. For someone who has spent decades speaking professionally, you might assume that communication always came naturally to me. It didn’t. As a teenager, I had a speech impediment that prevented…
There are people who become successful. There are people who become famous. And then there are those rare individuals who become something much greater. Dolly Parton became an icon. Her story didn’t begin with wealth, connections or opportunity. She grew up as one of 12 children in a one-room cabin in the mountains of Tennessee.…
Vince Lombardi famously said: “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.” I agree. Leadership requires effort. It requires discipline, repetition, resilience and a willingness to keep improving. But there’s another piece we cannot afford to overlook: Hard work only creates meaningful progress when it is…
I recently received a sales message that opened by telling me the sender and I were in the same business. There was only one problem. We weren’t. The sender had my name. He had a template. But he clearly hadn’t taken the time to understand what I actually do, who I serve, or whether what…
Some of the biggest breakthroughs in business don’t begin with a brilliant answer. They begin with a different question. I recently came across the story of an industry built around companies purchasing life insurance policies from policyholders. Traditionally, everyone viewed life insurance through essentially the same lens: Buy the policy. Pay the premiums. Eventually, the…
Markets are volatile. Budgets are tightening. International tensions are affecting supply chains, energy prices, and business confidence. For leaders, the pressure is real. But here is the brutal truth: Uncertainty does not destroy companies. Inaction does. When fear enters the boardroom, decisions slow down. Investments are delayed. Teams lose confidence. Organizations begin waiting for conditions…
Most salespeople don’t lose deals because of price. They don’t lose because of the competition. And they rarely lose because of the economy. More often than not, they lose because they’re approaching every opportunity with the same linear thinking they’ve been taught since childhood. From the time we enter school, we’re trained to follow the…
Fame can be addictive. Not just celebrity fame. Business fame. Leadership fame. Social media fame. The kind of visibility that makes people feel seen, validated, and recognized. But when attention becomes the goal, direction often changes. People start making decisions for reactions instead of results. They chase clicks instead of contribution. They prioritize visibility instead…
When You’re Down 29, Take the Next Shot There are moments in business, leadership, and life when the scoreboard looks ugly. You are behind. The pressure is rising. The odds look impossible. The people around you may start acting like the outcome has already been decided. But the leaders and teams who ultimately win are…
In the mid-2000s, I was lying in a hospital bed recovering from back surgery when a difficult question hit me: What haven’t I done with my life? And why? When you’re forced to slow down, clarity shows up. I realized that unrealized goals rarely come down to talent or opportunity. They come down to three…
Many clients are calling asking me how do they keep their existing business when the world has shut down. My answer is simple: “Treat every existing client like they are a prospect.” In today’s video, I show how you can reformulate your value proposition to make it relevant to today’s issues. This is the best…
Pretend an existing client calls you. They claim to have lost a lot of money because of the crisis. They now need all vendors, including long time partners like you, to reduce prices by 15%. Or lose the business. You cannot negotiate with strength by playing defense. You must play offense – and you do…
Consistency and quality will have a greater positive impact on your success than just sheer quantity. When I started releasing these daily videos 7 weeks ago, there was a huge demand for assistance in learning how to deal with the unexpected COVID-19 crisis. The videos provided you with daily bits of inspiration and knowledge…
Yesterday, the sports world lost the winningest coach in NFL history, Don Shula who passed away at 90 years of age. Many of you may remember Coach Shula for coaching the 1972 Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season record in NFL history, 17 wins and no losses! Watch this video to find out how…
COVID-19 is changing the priorities and strategies of many organizations. When you call a prospect, it’s not your proposal you should be asking about. In this video, I offer the best way to create urgency for a stalled deal in today’s environment. #VelocityMindset #dealornodeal
That’s the lesson I learned from Jodi Cali, a 46-year-old single mom to three daughters. In a relatively short period of time, she went from being a healthy individual to battling two life-threatening diseases. Jodi could easily have gone down a rabbit hole of self-pity and anger. Instead, she made a tough decision. Sometimes our…
Today you are in for a special treat. A client of mine sent me a video that his production team made. It was a big thank you to all of the plant workers who continued to show up in tough times. The video was a phenomenal team building exercise, one that generated a lot of…
If there’s one lesson we’ve learned from COVID-19, it’s that even though you may have created the best laid plans, you should always be ready to deal with the unexpected. Dealing with the unexpected is a skill in itself. It involves solving problems you don’t have the answers to. So how do you better deal…
For years, I wanted to learn to play the keyboard for my enjoyment, but always avoided it. It seemed like such a huge and difficult mountain to climb. Turns out the things that initially seem insurmountable to us are not really all that unreachable. So please enjoy the fruits of my labor. Okay, I’m no…
It is hard to maintain and grow Velocity, if you don’t change with the times. COVID-19 is presenting all of us with a choice. You can look at change as being a painful experience. Or, you can view it as an opportunity to reinvent the way you look at life and create a whole new…